Dixon Doubles Up With Kansas Victory

Defending race winner Scott Dixon dominated Sunday’s Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway, moving into the lead for the first time on Lap 32 and controlling the pace for the remainder of the day to score his first IZOD IndyCar Series victory of 2010. The win moved Dixon to second in the championship standings heading into the “Month of May” and the Indianapolis 500.

Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi)

Dario Franchitti (Target Chip Ganassi)

Starting second, Dixon battled teammate Dario Franchitti and pole qualifier Ryan Briscoe in the early laps. But after using his cockpit controls to make some minor changes to his car, Dixon established a pace that no one in the field could match. Other than surrendering the lead during scheduled pit stops, he was in command for the remainder of the 200-lap contest, the first IndyCar oval race of 2010.

For the fifth consecutive race weekend in 2010, all 27 drivers and teams completed the race weekend without a single failure for the Honda Indy V-8 engine. This weekend, drivers logged a total of 10,857.36 trouble-free miles around the high-speed Kansas Speedway oval. Today also marked Honda’s 99th IndyCar Series race victory since joining the series in 2003.

Behind the race winner, Franchitti, in the second Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, took advantage of problems for Briscoe, then held off the late charge of Andretti Autosport’s Tony Kanaan for runner-up honors. Kanaan finished third after a disappointing qualifying run that saw him start 15th. Helio Castroneves was the first Team Penske entry to take the checkers, in fourth, while Ryan Hunter-Reay also recovered from a poor qualifying run to round out the top-five finishers after starting well back in 22nd.

After dominating qualifying, Briscoe lost his left-front wheel just after a pit stop on Lap 78 and the extra stop to replace the wheel dropped him out of the lead battle. Both Japanese drivers – Takuma Sato and Hideki Mutoh – appeared headed for top-six results, but collided with one another while battling for position on a Lap 186 restart to end their afternoons. Neither driver was injured in the crash.

The IZOD IndyCar Series now takes a one-week break before the start of practice activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Opening day at the historic 2.5-mile oval is Saturday, May 15, with the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 30.

Tony Kanaan (Andretti Autosport)

Hideki Mutoh (Newman Haas)

Scott Dixon (#9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) started 2nd, finished 1st, 1st win of 2010, record-22nd career IndyCar Series victory:
“This is a huge win for us, going into the “Month of May.” We’ve had a slow start to the season, so this is exactly what we needed. With the weather conditions, there wasn’t a lot of track time this weekend, so rolling off the truck strong was pretty important, and we were able to do that. After about 30 laps in the race, the car really came into its own and it was just really, really fast. It was nice to drive and really consistent all day long. A great 1-2 finish for Team Target today.”

Dario Franchitti (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) started 3rd, finished 2nd, equaling his best previous Kansas Speedway result:
“Up until the first pit stop I think Scott [Dixon], Ryan [Briscoe] and myself were all pretty equal. After that, Scott was just a little bit quicker and that was the difference. My car’s balance was very good; he was just quicker. He was really fast today. Near the end, I could see Tony [Kanaan] coming on pretty strong the last two or three laps, but just managed to get the job done.”

Tony Kanaan (#11 Andretti Autosport Honda) started 15th, finished 3rd:
“We had some cars to pass today, but we got a great start and some great pit stops. We didn’t have the fastest car today, and didn’t have the speed to run with Dario or Scott, but the team gave us some great pit stops and we were able to take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves. It was a great day for us, I’m happy.”

Roger Griffiths (Race Team Manager, Honda Performance Development) on today’s race: “We’re very pleased to have had a clean race in Kansas. It gives us a comfort level that the engines are running well going into the ‘500’. We had a trouble-free weekend here, and that gives us a lot of confidence. Both engine-build shops [Honda Performance Development and technical partner Ilmor Engineering] are working flat out, preparing upwards of 60 engines to be used at Indy. We’re looking forward to an exciting ‘Month of May’.”